First Published October 2000 by The University of Plymouth

This edition published September 2003 by:

Plymconsulting
29 Knighton Rd
St Judes
Plymouth
Devon
PL4 9BX

ISBN: 1-84102-072-9

© Mel Hudson.

All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of
research, private study, criticism or review, as permitted under the
UK Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988, this Guide may
not be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, without the prior permission of the author.

No responsibility is assumed by the Author or the University of

Plymouth for any injury and/or damage to persons or property
resulting from the instructions and ideas contained in this Guide.

British Library cataloguing-in-publication data:

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.

Available electronically only through www.plymconsulting.com

Contents

Preface 4
Introduction 6
Frequently Asked Questions 9
Process Summary 11
Stage 1: NAME 13
1.1 Define Strategic Objectives 13
1.2 Name Top Priority Objective 16
1.3 Identify Project Team 17
Stage 2: ACT 18
2.1 Consultation 18
Staff Survey 19
Brainstorming 21
2.2 Evaluation 22
2.3 Develop Performance Measures 24
Stage 3: USE 26
3.1 Planning Implementation 26
Information Points 27
Continuous Strategic Improvement File 27
3.2 Data Collection Systems 28
Stage 4: LEARN 29
4.1 Review Progress on Performance Measures 29
Conclusion 31
Appendix: TOOL TEMPLATES 32
Tool 1: Internal / External Needs Analysis 33
Tool 2: Internal / External Prioritisation Matrix 34
Tool 2: Overlay Sheet 35
Tool 3: Prioritisation Chart 36
Tool 4: Improvement Action Sheet 37
Tool 5: Performance Measure Record Sheet 38
Tool 7: Review Sheet 39
PREFACE

Whenever a new management tool or technique is developed,

there follows a plethora of management books which explain what
it is and how to implement it. These books invariably make a
number of assumptions about their respective audiences. These
assumptions are that the interested manager comes from a
company where:
• the management team regularly find time to sit down and
develop strategies for improving the business;
• the management team have a high degree of autonomy over
critical business decisions;
• the team of staff know and understand the strategies
developed;
• the operating environment can adjust easily to incorporate
improvements and changes.

In my experience, working with small companies, these

assumptions are invariably flawed. The typical small company
seems to comprise;
• a management team who are rushed off their feet trying to
deal with day to day crises in the company;
• a management team whose decision making activities are
often severely restricted by financiers, customers, legislation
and the company owners;
• a team of staff who often have little knowledge, let alone
understanding of the business strategy;
• an operating environment which will require a major
restructure (and often significant investment) in order to
incorporate important improvements and changes.

These characteristics often preclude small companies from

gaining the benefits of new management methods, not because
they are unsuitable per se, but simply because the scenarios
described in the text books rarely translate effectively into the
practical experience of small company managers.

4
My primary aim in writing this guide was to stay rooted in small
company reality and develop solutions which will work in this
hectic environment. This guide provides a set of tools and
techniques for developing continuous strategic improvement
which are designed to work within these constraints. I hope that
you will find it a useful resource.

Mel Hudson October 2000

5
INTRODUCTION

The Gap Between Vision and Strategy

Think for a minute about the direction in which you would like your
company to develop and grow. This is probably not difficult – it is
simply your vision for the future. However, now think about how
you are going to get from where you are now, to actually attaining
that vision. This is the rather more tricky bit – this requires a
strategy; how to get from point A to point B.

All companies have visions – even if that vision is for the

company to remain the same. However, small companies seem
to find the strategy bit more difficult. This is because small
companies need the ability to adapt quickly, in order to capitalise
on opportunities and overcome potential problems. This requires
a flexibility that long term plans cannot give, rendering them
effectively obsolete. Therefore, in this environment, thinking of
strategy as a set of plans is of little value. However, strategy can
also be described as a pattern of actions which shape the
business over time. This model seems to be a more appropriate
method of describing small company strategy. The reason for this
is that it removes the constraints of formal planning and allows a
more flexible and dynamic management approach. This is
essential to enable small companies to respond effectively to new
opportunities or potential threats.

The problem with this type of strategy is that, all to often, it can
turn out to be no strategy at all. This happens when short term
flexibility takes over and management becomes purely reactive,
rather than proactively driving towards the long term vision. This
leaves us with a problem: Managers can make plans detailing
how they intend to achieve their long term vision – knowing all the
time that their plans are likely to alter course significantly over
time, thus rendering them of little use. Alternatively, they can be
flexible enough to react to the fast changing environment and
ultimately exchange strategy for short term tactical manoeuvres.

6
The Solution

There is, however, a third option which is – conveniently – the

subject of this guide. The third option involves what is known as
incremental or emergent strategy. This option attempts to
formulate strategy through evaluating and learning from short
term tactical manoeuvrings. In order to do this effectively, a
process of continuous strategic improvement is required, which
can:
• identify appropriate short term tactics which will support the
long term vision;
• identify improvements and develop performance measures to
drive performance towards achieving the short term tactics;
• evaluate and learn from the measurement data to improve
performance.

A key way of achieving these aims is effective performance

measurement, which can provide appropriate data for monitoring,
evaluating and learning purposes. This guide describes a
practical process for achieving continuous strategic improvement
through effective performance measurement.

The Continuous Strategic Improvement Process

The process is presented as a cycle so that tactics and measures

can be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis. The diagram
below illustrates how the process works by first naming an
appropriate short term objective, then acting by identifying
improvements and developing performance measures to monitor
and evaluate progress towards the objective, through to
implementing the improvements and finally feeding back
performance, to enable strategic learning.

The process of naming the top priority business objective helps to

focus improvement efforts and eliminate communication problems
(Name). This is helped by identifying improvements and
developing a few performance measures to drive progress
towards the priority objective (Act). Using the performance
measures helps evaluate the success of the improvement efforts

7
(Use). Reviewing the performance data regularly gives an early
warning of potential problems and ensures that the measures
remain relevant and coherent by highlighting and deleting
obsolete measures (Learn).

Continuous
Strategic
Improvement Stage 1
Process NAME

Stage 4 Stage 2
LEARN ACT

Stage 3
USE

The main benefit of this cyclic approach is that it can help

stimulate continuous strategic improvement in the business. This
is because the process provides a mechanism for prioritising and
monitoring business objectives, enabling the whole business to
focus on achieving one objective before moving on to the next
one.

8
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

As a small company manager you probably have a million and

one things to do already – so why would you want to bother
wasting your time reading the rest of this guide? The purpose of
this section is to try to convince you that it is worthwhile – not just
to read it, but to start using the process it describes in your
company.

Why should I bother with this process?

Think about the improvements you would like to make in your

company. If you are thinking of more than one or two
improvements, this process can help you. Instead of trying to sort
out all your problems simultaneously, the process helps you to
prioritise and choose just the most important improvement
objective to focus on. As there is only one objective, it is easy to
communicate to the rest of the staff, so everyone knows where
they stand and what they are trying to achieve. When you have
achieved one improvement, you take another look at your
priorities, which may well have changed, and identify a new focus
for improvement. Throughout each improvement, performance
measures are developed and used to track progress and act as
an early warning system if things start going wrong. It is a simple
idea, and a simple process. Continuous strategic improvement
can transform your company – try it and see the difference!

How long will it take?

The process is designed to help you achieve ongoing business

objectives. It is a method of continuously evaluating where you
are and where you want to go, and then monitoring your success
in getting there. Therefore, there are no overall time limits for the
process. However, each cycle will take approximately one day of
management time, ideally spread over a couple of weeks.

9
How much will it cost?

Everything you need to work through the process is contained

within this guide. There are no costs involved apart from staff
time. Initially, more time will be needed to implement the process,
but as it becomes part of your day to day management, the time
involved will reduce considerably.

Will it improve the bottom line?

By only focusing on one objective at a time, there is a greater

chance of achieving success. If the objective has been correctly
identified as the main priority for the company, then achieving it
should have a positive impact on the bottom line. The philosophy
of continuous strategic improvement that this approach fosters
can also help to improve profits indirectly, through a more
proactive atmosphere of improvement among staff.

How hard is it to actually do?

Implementing a new management method is never easy.

However, this guide provides the tools and techniques you will
need to get through the difficulties and overcome any resistance
to change. Being positive about change and managing it
effectively is the key to making the transition as smooth and pain
free as possible. Once you have got over the initial
implementation, the process is extremely straightforward and
easy to use.

10
PROCESS SUMMARY

The process illustrated in this guide is designed to enable

companies with dynamic strategies to develop a system for
continuous strategic improvement that is resource efficient and
able to adapt quickly and easily to changing business demands. It
is represented as a cycle to illustrate that it is a continuous
process of naming improvement objectives, developing and
implementing performance measures to help achieve those
objectives and then reviewing the data to achieve strategic
learning.

Stage 1: NAME

This stage involves the management team naming the top priority
business objective as a focus for this cycle of the process. This is
achieved by identifying and then prioritising the company’s
current strategic objectives. The most critical objective is then
chosen as the focus for attention and a project team is identified
to develop appropriate performance measures to support this
objective.

Stage 2: ACT

A project team consult staff and collect suggestions for

improvements which will help the company achieve the named
objective. The suggestions are evaluated and appropriate action
is taken to implement improvements. A small amount of
performance measures are developed to monitor progress
towards the identified objective. Appropriate members of staff are
appointed to implement the measures and collect data for review.

Stage 3: USE

Each appointed member of staff sets up and co-ordinates data

collection procedures for their measure. Ideally this includes an

11
information site to ensure that all staff can monitor progress. They
are responsible for reporting progress and also for actioning any
feedback from the reviews.

Stage 4: LEARN

The management team reviews progress to target on all

performance measures. In addition, all measures are assessed
for their continued appropriateness to company needs and to
ensure that no conflicts arise between measures. Actions from
this review, including revised targets or the deletion of obsolete or
conflicting measures, are then fed back to the relevant staff.

The Continuous Strategic

Improvement Process for
SMEs NAME
- identify current business objectives
- prioritise objectives
- name one objective for immediate action
- select a project team for the next stage

LEARN
- review progress towards target
- assess success of improvements
- review appropriateness of
performance measures to
eliminate conflicts of interest
- feedback actions from review to
relevant staff.
ACT
- consult staff to gain consensus and collect
improvement suggestions
- evaluate and select appropriate improvements
- develop performance measures to support
improvements
- identify and consult people to action the
improvements and the measures

USE
- implement selected improvements
- identify appropriate data collection systems
- collate data centrally
- communicate measurement information to staff
- report progress towards targets
- action feedback from reviews

12
STAGE 1: NAME

Aim: to identify your current most important strategic objective.

People: the management team

Tools: Templates of the tools used can be found in the Appendix.

This is the planning stage of the cycle, where you must name
your current most important strategic objective. It is essential to
get this right to ensure that your improvements reflect your
current strategic priorities. This section will guide you through the
process of defining and prioritising business objectives. It will then
suggest who should participate in a company-wide team who will
be responsible for identifying appropriate improvements and
developing performance measures to monitor progress.

1.1 Define Strategic Objectives

If you have one, a strategic / business plan or mission statement

will be useful for this activity, as it will help you to identify your
current strategic objectives.

The first step in identifying your business objectives is to identify

your business needs in terms of the critical dimensions of
performance.

Tip: Making a list of your various stakeholders (e.g.

investors, employees, owners, affiliated companies etc.) will
help at this stage, as will identifying your major customers.

13
The diagram in figure 1 illustrates the hierarchical relationship
between the various dimensions and sub dimensions of
performance. From this diagram, it can be seen that the four
dimensions that are critical to business success are Operational
Effectiveness, Supplier Effectiveness, Stakeholder Satisfaction
and Customer Satisfaction.

Stakeholder Customer Operational Supplier

Satisfaction Satisfaction Effectiveness Effectiveness

Employees Society Investors Quality Flexibility Time Cost

Environment Community product performance delivery speed

delivery reliability throughput time
effectiveness productivity
pollution wealth creation service labour efficiency
waste ethical stance image cycle time
defects lead time

skills
learning sales
quality of work life profit new product introduction cash flow
relationships loss resource utilisation efficiency
competitiveness innovation cost control
future growth volume flexibility cost reduction
market share inventory cost

Figure 1: Relationships between dimensions and sub-dimensions

of performance

Using Tool 1, you should now start to think about identifying your
current business needs for each of the critical dimensions of
performance. Use the diagram as a guide to ensure that you
cover all the relevant aspects of performance within each
dimension.

14
Your business needs may be classified into two groups for
examination; internal needs and external needs.

Internal needs essentially relate to the working practices within

the company itself. They may include current operational
concerns, specific improvements, or other changes you wish to
make.

Business Strategic
Needs Objectives
Operational
Effectiveness
Supplier
Effectiveness
Stakeholder
Satisfaction
Customer
Satisfaction
Tool 1

External needs may be classified as the many external forces that

influence the way your company works. This includes any current
opportunities or threats you are facing. Identify the external
requirements that will ensure improvements across each
dimension of performance.

Once you have identified a balanced set of current business

needs, you need to develop your current strategic objectives by
capturing precisely what actions you need to take in order to
satisfy those needs.

15
1.2 Name Top Priority Objective

To identify which objective is currently most critical for financial

success, plot your set of objectives on the matrix (tool 2)∗.

urgent
action
External Importance critical

not acceptable
important

Internal Importance
Tool 2

This is achieved by looking at each objective in terms of a) how

important it is to achieve the objective as far as your company is
concerned (internal importance) and b) the importance of
achieving the objective as far as your customers and
stakeholders are concerned (external importance).

Identify the objective(s) which is currently the most critical for

financial success. This will generally be any objective which falls
into the ‘urgent action’ zone on the chart, although it is advisable
to focus on just one objective each time.

The objective you choose should now become your named focus
for improvement for this iteration of the process

∗
Adapted from Slack, N. (1994) ”The Importance Performance Matrix as a Determinant
of Improvement Priorities” International Journal of Operations and Production
Management, Vol 15 No 4 pp59-75.

16
1.3 Identify Project Team

Select a project team who will have responsibility for identifying

appropriate improvements and developing performance
measures to support the chosen objective (usually 5/6 people per
team, depending on company size).

Remember that although it might seem logical for the project

team to consist entirely of managers, this could present significant
problems, including:
• difficulties getting the team together, due to day-to-day
managerial issues
• the project being overtaken by short-term problems
• a tendency to alienate the project from the people who will be
expected to implement and use the resulting PMs.

Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the project team has

representatives from all levels of the company, including:
• team leaders;
• supervisors;
• other capable members of staff;
• management.

17
STAGE 2: ACT

Aim: To identify appropriate improvements and develop

performance measures to support the named objective.

People: The project team identified in stage 1.

Tools: Templates of the tools used can be found in the Appendix.

This is where the project team consult staff throughout the

company to gather suggestions which will help achieve the
named objective. They then identify performance measures to
monitor and evaluate progress towards the named objective. The
following stage illustrates the tools and techniques to help you
achieve these aims.

2.1 Consultation

The purpose of this exercise is to consult with members of staff to

communicate what you are trying to achieve and to gather
improvement suggestions that will help the company achieve the
named objective.

Depending on your circumstances, you may decide to use one or

both of the following methods of consultation:
• a survey to all staff;
• team brainstorming sessions.

The table in figure 2 illustrates the key trade-offs between each

method.

The main focus of either method should be to inform staff of the

focus for improvement and identify what they perceive as being
the ‘top three improvements’ necessary to achieve the named
objective.

18
 Survey
• involves all staff
• quick to administer
• easy to set up with no
experience
• typically low reply rates
• lots of off-topic
information
• time consuming data
sorting required
Brainstorming
• involves only selected members
of staff
• time consuming to set up / do
• difficult to do without experience
• full participation from the selected
staff
• mainly relevant, on-topic
information
• data can be sorted in the session

Figure 2: Survey V’s Brainstorming Trade-offs

Staff Survey

The survey method is particularly useful for gathering data from

the entire staff quickly and efficiently. However, the drawback of
this method is that although it is easy to administer, the response
rate and the quality of the responses will be lower.

Hints and tips for an effective survey are given below.

Hints

To get the best response, it is essential to explain:

• What you are trying to achieve (i.e. the named objective)
• How it will be achieved (i.e. by focusing improvement efforts in
this one area and monitoring and evaluating progress)
• The purpose of the survey (i.e. to gather improvement
suggestions from all staff relating to the achievement of the
named objective)
• The information you want:
What are the top three improvements you can think of
which will help us to achieve the named objective?
(In addition, you might want to provide space for further
comments, to allow other important issues to be raised)

19
 Useful prompts to incorporate on the survey form might
include:
• What improvements in your team would make it easier to
achieve the named objective?
• What improvements in the company as a whole would help
us achieve the named objective?

Tips

• Make sure that the named objective is clearly stated on the

survey.
• Make sure everyone in the company receives the survey – this
way everyone has a chance to suggest improvements, if they
want to.
• Set a date by which all replies must be received – otherwise
you will be waiting indefinitely for replies.
• Do not expect everyone to reply – the main point of the survey
is to inform people about the project and invite their input.
People who are interested enough will reply.
• Expect lots of information not directly related to the named
objective – this is to be expected and could be useful for other
projects, even though it is not directly relevant here.

20
Brainstorming

Brainstorming sessions have the advantage of gathering detailed

data from specific groups of people. However, although this
method is more productive, it is also the most time consuming
and difficult to arrange.

Hints and tips for conducting this brainstorming session effectively

are given below.

Hints

• At the beginning of the session, explain what you are trying to

achieve. Make this VERY clear, to ensure that everyone is
focused on answering ONE question:
What are the top three improvements you can think of
which will help us to achieve the named objective?
• Write both the named objective and the question on a
whiteboard / flip chart, as a reminder to everyone of the
purpose of the session.
• Lead the discussion, where necessary, by prompting the
group with questions, or suggesting improvements that you
personally think would help the company achieve the
objective.

Prompts might include:

• What improvements in your team would make it easier to
achieve the named objective?
• What improvements in the company as a whole would help
us achieve the named objective?

Tips

• 5-8 people are the optimum number for effective

brainstorming. More than this will inevitably end up with the
session getting side-tracked onto different issues, whereas
fewer may result in a lack of ideas for discussion.

21
• Use post-it notes to record information – they are easy to
move around and you can use different colours to denote
different issues.
• A whiteboard or flip chart will give you plenty of room for
adding or removing post-its, as ideas develop.

2.2 Evaluation

The consultation phase should result in lots of improvement

suggestions which need to be evaluated to identify which are
critically important to achieving the named objective. This process
will differ slightly depending on whether the consultation format
you used was brainstorming, or a survey.

If you used brainstorming

– the evaluation can be carried out at the end of the session to
save time.

If you used the survey method

– the evaluation should be carried out in a separate session with
the project team. (With this method, there is also a need to sort
the data before evaluating it. This involves taking each survey in
turn and writing each suggestion down on a post-it note, then
grouping similar suggestions under general headings.)

Evaluation should be conducted on the basis of the

importance of each improvement to achieving the named
objective.

This can be achieved using a 5 point +/- scale (see tool 3), to rate
the relative importance of each suggestion in achieving the
priority objective. The easiest way to do this is to draw the scale
on a whiteboard / flipchart, and stick the post-it notes you have
already written against the relevant section.

22
This process should be repeated to higher and higher levels of
importance, until you have between 3-5 critically important
improvement suggestions.

Suggested improvements to
achieve the named objective
++
(v high importance)
+
(high importance)
0
(important)
-
(low importance)
--
(v low importance)
Tool 3

It is important that the improvements identified have management

support, so that they can be implemented quickly and efficiently.
This support is required before moving on to the next step. Tool 4
provides a method of recording the critically important
improvements, detailing what they are, who will be affected and
responsible, and how long the project is expected to take. Copies
of this sheet should be sent to all relevant people for information
and approval.

Improvement:

Area affected:
Person
Responsible:
Action
Required:
Estimated time:

Signed off:
Tool 4

23
2.3 Develop Performance Measures

Having gained management support for the selected

improvements, it is now time to develop some performance
measures to evaluate their success and monitor the overall
progress towards the named objective.

To ensure that performance measurement does not become

cumbersome, you should aim for just one measure to monitor
overall progress towards the named objective. In addition, you
may wish to develop measures to assess the effectiveness of the
improvements you are undertaking. However, a useful guideline
is that there should be no more than 3-4 measures per named
objective. All the measures should be clearly related to the named
objective, have a clear purpose and be simple to use and
understand. The performance measure record sheet (tool 5*) can
be used to help you achieve this.

Measure The title of the measure. Should be self explanatory and avoid
jargon.
Purpose Should be related to the effect you are trying to achieve.
Relates to Identify the business objective that this measure relates to.
Target Specify the level of performance required and the timescales
within which they need to be achieved.
Formula How something is measured affects the way people behave. The
formula should drive people towards good business practice.
Frequency The frequency with which performance should be recorded and
reported is a function of its importance and the available data.
Who This box should identify the person who is going to collect the
measures? data. This is the formal ‘owner’ of the measure.
Source of Where is the data coming from? To track changes in performance
data over time, then the data must come from the same source each
time.
Who acts This box should identify the person who has the responsibility /
on the authority of acting on the data. Normally, this will be either the
data? person who collects the data, or their line manager.
What do Without some action here, the measure is pointless. You should
they do? define a general process to be followed in the case of good/ bad
performance.
Notes Any specific issues, concerning the measure should be detailed
here.
Tool 5
*
Neely, A. Mills, J. Gregory, M. Richards H. Platts, K. and Bourne, M. (1996) Getting
the Measure of Your Business, Works Management, Cambridge. P65.

24
When you complete the performance measure record sheets you
are asked to identify a member of staff who will be responsible for
managing that measure. A copy of the sheet should be sent to
this person, for information, along with an implementation date
and information about reporting and feedback procedures.

25
STAGE 3: USE

Aim: to implement the improvements and performance measures

and develop procedures for reporting / feedback.

People: The Management team and identified members of staff.

Tools: Due to its nature tool 6 is for illustration purposes only.

This is the implementation stage of the cycle. It is essential that

this stage is completed effectively, because otherwise the other
stages have been a waste of time. This section gives advice to
ensure effective implementation. The tool illustrated is an
example of a paper-based information point, but may be
substituted if your company already has effective dissemination
systems in place.

3.1 Planning Implementation

Good communication is the key to effective implementation. Your

implementation plan should therefore ensure that:
• all staff are informed about the improvements being
undertaken and the related performance measures (with
reasons why!);
• a central, open access, file is developed, containing all the
information for each named objective, to ensure visibility
throughout the company;
• members of staff who are to be responsible for implementing
and managing performance measures are informed of their
role and the reporting procedures;
• information points are set up, displaying performance data for
each measure.

26
Information Points

To ensure visibility across the company, performance data for

each measure should be summarised and displayed in a
prominent position (either paper or electronically based).

The information should be maintained regularly by the owner of

each measure.

Tool 5 illustrates a possible format for an information point.

Information Point

Performance Measure:
Target:
%Achieved:
Updated:

March

Feb

Jan
10% 50% 100%

achieved target Tool 6

The Continuous Strategic Improvement File

This file should contain all the information relating to continuous

strategic improvement within the company.

The file should contain the following information:

Section 1:
• The current named objective
• A list of current improvement actions relating to the named
objective

27
• Performance measure record sheets for the current named
objective (tool 6)
• Review sheets for each performance measure (see tool 7)

Section 2:
• Previous named objectives
• A list of the improvements undertaken which related to the
named objectives
• Performance measure record sheets for the previous named
objectives (tool 6)
• Review sheets for each performance measure (see tool 7)

Section 3: (for reference purposes)

• Performance measure record sheets for obsolete objectives
(tool 6)
• Review sheets for each obsolete performance measure (see
tool 7)

3.2 Data Collection Systems

The performance measure record sheet should contain all the

relevant information for data collection, including who is
responsible for collecting the data, where the data will come from
and the frequency of collection.

It is the responsibility of the person who is managing the measure

to:
• ensure that the data is collected correctly, according to the
information given
• complete and update the information point with progress on a
regular basis
• complete a review sheet before each review meeting (See
Tool 7)
• action any feedback on the measure received from the PM
review.

28
STAGE 4: LEARN

Aim: to assess the impact of improvements made and to evaluate

progress towards achieving the named objective.

People: the management team

Tools: Templates of the tools used can be found in the Appendix.

This stage of the process aims to review the performance data

collected from all performance measures, to ensure that the
targets remain relevant and that obsolete measures are deleted.
In addition, potential conflicts between performance measures
can be identified and resolved.

4.1 Review Progress

To ensure that all your performance measures are relevant and

appropriate to your current needs, they need to be reviewed
regularly. Reviews should occur:
a) every month / quarter (as appropriate)
b) every time you introduce new measures (even if they are not
developed using this process).

Each Review should:

a) monitor progress towards the named objective;
b) assess the continued value of each measure;
c) ensure that there are no conflicting measures.

To review progress on existing performance measures, you will

require the following information for each individual measure:
1. the title of the measure,
2. progress to target,
3. major actions undertaken,
4. any other relevant issues.

29
This information should be provided by the person responsible for
each measure, using a Review Sheet (See Tool 7 for a template
Review Sheet).

Review Sheet

Measure
Person Responsible
Performance Data
Target
% Achieved

Actions Undertaken

Issues

Review Comments
Progress to Target

Actions

New Review Date

Tool 7

Using this information, you can carry out the review. This will
entail:
• ensuring progress towards the named objective is satisfactory
• evaluating the improvements made using the relevant
performance measures
• reviewing / changing / extending targets for individual
performance measures, as appropriate
• deleting obsolete measures
• ensuring that none of the measures conflict with each other
• feeding back any actions to the appropriate members of staff.

30
CONCLUSION

This guide has illustrated a step-by-step process for the

development of continuous strategic improvement. The process
enables you to:
• identify your current most important business objective
• identify the critical improvements you can make in the
company which will help you achieve that objective
• develop performance measures to monitor and evaluate your
improvement efforts
• learn from your experiences to facilitate future improvements
using the process.

The process is designed to be continuous and, therefore, this

should not be seen as the conclusion of strategic improvement in
your company, but simply as the end of one cycle.

To ensure that you can continue to focus on the achievement of

your most pressing strategic objectives, it is essential that you
integrate this process into the company’s way of working, so that
every time your strategic priorities change, you can use it as an
opportunity for improvement, through another iteration of the
process.

Good Luck!

31
 APPENDIX:

Tool Templates

32
Tool 1: Business Needs Analysis
Current Strategic
Business Needs
Objectives

Operational
Effectiveness

Supplier
Effectiveness

Stakeholder
Satisfaction

Customer
Satisfaction
Tool 2: Internal / External Prioritisation Matrix*
External Importance

Internal Importance

*
Adapted from Slack, N. (1994) ”The Importance Performance Matrix as a Determinant of Improvement Priorities” International Journal of
Operations and Production Management, Vol 15 No 4 pp59-75.
Tool 2: Internal / External Prioritisation Matrix Overlay Sheet (photocopy onto
acetate)*

URGENT
ACTION
CRITICAL

NOT ACCEPTABLE
IMPORTANT

*
Adapted from Slack, N. (1994) ”The Importance Performance Matrix as a Determinant of Improvement
Priorities” International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol 15 No 4 pp59-75.
Tool 3: Prioritisation Chart

Suggested improvements to achieve the named

objective
++
(v high importance)
+
(high importance)
0
(important)
-
(low importance)
--
(v low importance)
Tool 4: Improvement Action Sheet

Improvement:

Area affected:

Person Responsible:

Action Required:

Estimated time:

Signed off:
Tool 5: Performance Measure Record Sheet*

Measure:
Purpose:
Relates to:
Target:
Formula:
Frequency:
Who Measures:
Source of Data:
Who acts on the Data:
What do they do:
Notes/ Comments:
*

*Neely, A. Mills, J. Gregory, M. Richards H. Platts, K. and Bourne, M. (1996) Getting the Measure of Your Business, Works Management,
Cambridge. P65.
Tool 7: Review Sheet

Performance Measure:

Person Responsible:

Performance Data

Target:

% Achieved:

Actions Undertaken:

Issues:

Review Comments

Progress to Target:

Actions:

Next Review Date:

Available Electronically through:

www.plymconsulting.com

ISBN: 1-84102-072-9

© 2000